Dismantling al Qaeda in Yemen crucial for Obama's anti-terror policy

Published: Monday, January 4, 2010, 13:58 [IST]

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Sana'a, Jan. 4 (ANI): Closure of the US embassy in Yemen in the wake of the Detroit flight bombing bid is not all what President Obama ought to do to dismantle the al Qaeda in Yemen - a country crucial to his vow to defeat global terrorism, the CSM has opined.

Yemen, perhaps even more than Afghanistan, goes to the core of Obama's antiterrorism philosophy, it says.

Of all the places most often linked with Al Qaeda, Yemen is, in many respects, the place where Obama's efforts might bear the most fruit, The Christian Science Monitor reports.

"Unlike Afghanistan, Yemen has a robust Al Qaeda presence within its borders. Unlike Pakistan, Yemen appears to be an eager partner for the US. And unlike Somalia, Yemen still has at least the trappings of a functional government," the report says.

This is one reason why the Obama administration is pumping 70 million dollars in military aid into Yemen. And the number will only double next year, according to Gen. David Petraeus, the US commander of forces in the region, it adds.

According to the paper, Obama knows that he cannot dismantle or defeat Al Qaeda from Afghanistan, because Al Qaeda is no longer there - it is across the border in Pakistan.

With Pakistan either unable or unwilling to dismantle the terrorist networks of Al Qaeda and its allies in its tribal areas, Obama can only hope to keep Al Qaeda from expanding into Afghanistan again and growing stronger.

In Yemen, however, he can strike at Al Qaeda directly and has a partner that is apparently willing to do so, it concludes. (ANI)